Sakura Akiyama, Martial Arts Extraordinaire
by MntT77
Summary: The Titans are in for a lot more than they bargained for when martial arts expert Sakura Akiyama arrives and tells them she wants to become a part of their team.
1. Chapter 1

It had been an uneventful week for the Titans – there had not been a single enemy terrorising the city, and consequently the time had consisted of a mixture of combat practice and relaxation. Raven, as usual, was reading one of her many books, Cyborg was playing on the Gamestation, and Starfire was showing a rather reluctant Robin how to prepare one of her favourite Tamaranean dishes. Beast Boy entered the living room with several newspapers in his arms, looking rather worn out. Robin and Starfire were visibly shocked.

"Hey Beast Boy, are you OK?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I'm – OK"

"You look out of the breath", Starfire noted. "And I was not aware that you read the papers of news"

"I wasn't aware he could read at all", Raven remarked snidely. Beast Boy glared at all.

"Well, normally I don't, no. But there's this absolutely sensational girl – she's been dominating judo and other martial tournaments all across Japan, and she's making her way to the United States. I've been going round town leafing through every newspaper to find out more about her"

"Ooh, someone's got a crush", Cyborg teased.

"I do not!" Beast Boy blushed. "But still, it's pretty incredible – she's only 17 and yet she's already dominating the worldwide martial arts scene"

"I think I might have seen her on the news yesterday, actually", Robin said. "What's her name?"

"Er, it's Sa… er… Sak… Sak, er…" Cyborg snatched one of the newspapers, where she was featured on the front page. "Sakura Akiyama" Cyborg read, "who was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, earned the gold medal in the annual National Judo Championship, her seventh gold medal thus far. As well as judo, she has also competed in local and national tournaments for aikido, jujutsu and karate, and has stated aspirations to represent Japan on an international level"

"Wow, she's… quite something", Robin said. "Her level of skill sounds practically superhuman"

"Well, I'd say she's a pretty super human", Beast Boy said dreamily, and gazed into the distance. Raven slapped him over the back of the head. "Get a hold of yourself, lover boy"

"Still, wouldn't it be awesome if I got to meet her one day?"

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Starfire flew towards the front door. When she opened it and saw who was standing in front of her, she gasped.

"Who is it, Star?" Robin asked.

"It is her! The girl of many martial arts!"

"What?! No way!" Beast Boy turned into a cheetah and darted towards the front door, knocking Starfire off of her feet. "Er… hi… I'm Beast Boy…"

"No kidding – I'm Sakura Akiyama. I'm sure you've heard of me" Sakura was very tall, slightly taller than Robin, and had a trim figure with slender arms and legs. Her strawberry-blonde hair was arranged in a pixie cut, and she had large, soft brown eyes. She was dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans. She extended her hand – Beast Boy shook it gingerly, with a sheepish grin on his face.

By this point Cyborg, Raven and Robin were standing at the entrance too. "So, what brings you to Titans Tower?" Cyborg asked.

"Well, I was getting tired of being in Japan all the time…" Her voice had a mellifluous tone. "I'm sure you've heard of my success in the martial arts world lately"

Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy with a grin on his face. "Yeah, we've heard"

"Well, it's a lot of fun and all, but I was hoping that I could maybe put my martial arts skills to a better use"

"Do you mean-"Robin said.

"I want to be a Teen Titan!" she beamed.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm sorry. It was stupid of me to ask. I'll go…"

"It's not that!" Robin said. "It's obvious that you're a very talented person. It's just – "

"Being a Titan isn't a game" Raven said. "It's 24/7. When you become a Titan you have to risk everything to protect people who rely on you"

"I know that", Sakura said. "I know it won't be easy, but I'm good with challenges. Look, maybe I could come along to one of your training sessions – then I'll prove to you that I know my stuff!"

Robin stroked his chin. "Give us a minute to think it over!" The Titans returned to the living room. "So?" Robin said. "What do you all think? Should we give her a chance?"

"Are you kidding?!" Beast Boy cried. "Of COURSE we should give her a chance! She'd be perfect! She could even have my room and –"

"Beast Boy, be serious!" Cyborg commanded. "Adding a new member to the team isn't something that can be done on a whim – remember the trouble we had with Terra?"

"I am sure this girl has nothing but good intentions", Starfire hesitated. "After all, she already has glory, and I do not think it could hurt to give her a chance"

"Starfire, she clearly has the wrong attitude!" Raven interjected. "There's something not right with that girl – I'm sure of it"

"You say that about everyone", Beast Boy said.

"And I'm usually right"

"The way I see it", Cyborg said, "As long as we keep her under fully supervised conditions, there's no harm in letting her have a trial run tomorrow – do you guys agree?"

Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy nodded their heads. There was a pause, and then Raven sighed and said, "Alright. Since everyone is against me, I suppose we'd better give her a chance"

The five of them returned to the front door, where Sakura was still waiting patiently.

"OK, Sakura", Robin said. "After some thought, we've decided to let you train with us tomorrow"

"Oh my! Thank you, thank you –"

"But there are going to be some constraints in place. With most people we wouldn't even consider this, but you've already proven yourself a capable fighter. So when you arrive, you're to be kept under constant surveillance, and you cannot tell anyone else that you are training with us"

"Understood"

"Be here at 7am sharp – that's when we'll begin our training for the day"

"Thank you! Thank you so much. I won't let you down!" Sakura began to walk away, and Robin closed the door.

"Well, it looks like this week got a lot more eventful all of a sudden", Robin said.

"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me…" Beast Boy was still in a daze. Raven and Cyborg sighed.

"Oh no!" Starfire had just remembered that she'd left the dinner she was preparing in the oven. She hurried back into the living room, but when she opened the oven her dish had burned into a cinder. "Oh! My dinner is ruined!"

Robin hid his relief and pretended to be disappointed. "Well, Star, that's an awful shame. Perhaps we'd be better off going out for pizza tonight…"


	2. Chapter 2

At sunrise the next day, Starfire woke up. She started her day earlier than the other Titans because it was the best opportunity for her to take Silkie out for a walk. However, while she was scouring her wardrobe, trying to find Silkie's leash, there was a knock on the front door. Not wanting her friends to awaken earlier than necessary, she quickly flew towards the front door to see who had arrived.

"Oh, Sakura", she said, surprised. "It is you"

"Well yeah, of course it's me", she said. She was wearing the same outfit she had been the day before. "We agreed, remember? That I could join you guys in one of your training sessions"

"But I thought the time we had decided upon was seven in the morning"

"Yeah?"

"By my watch it is only fourteen minutes past six – you are not due to be here for another forty-six minutes"

Sakura frowned, and looked at her watch. Instantly, her expression changed to a jovial one. "Silly me, you're absolutely right, of course! What can I say, I was just so excited I couldn't stay away from here a minute longer! Hey, while we're waiting for the others to get up, maybe I can hang out in your living room"

"I-" Before Starfire could say anything more, Sakura barged past, treading on Starfire's foot in the process.

"Ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"You have trodden on my – "

"Oops, my bad. I can be such a klutz sometimes. Now come on, show me your living room!"

Starfire was agitated by Sakura's rather brash demeanour, but her good-hearted nature was not deterred, and she led Sakura into the living room.

"Woah, this place is huge! Hey, is that a Gamestation?! I LOVE the Gamestation! Let's play!"

"That device is not mine – it belongs to Cyborg. And I am not sure if he would want us using it without his permission" In reality Starfire knew that he almost certainly wouldn't mind, but she was becoming increasingly annoyed with Sakura's careless attitude.

"Oh come on, Moonfire, don't be such a spoilsport"

Starfire frowned again. "My name is Starfire"

"Oh yeah. Well come on!"

"Starfire, is that you making all that noise?" Robin asked, entering the room with a rather weary expression on his face. Sakura immediately dropped the controller she had picked up, and rushed over to Robin's side.

"Oh no, Robin", she said, "That was me. I was talking about how much I can't wait to train with you guys!"

"You're a little early, aren't you?" Robin asked. "I said to be here at seven – there's still forty more minutes before training starts"

"Yo, what's all this racket?" Cyborg said, emerging behind Robin.

"Some of us are trying to read", Raven added.

"Yeah", Beast Boy said. "I really – " He stopped as soon as he saw Sakura. "Oh my gosh, you're here! I'm sorry, I didn't realise! How are you? I mean, it's only been a day since we saw last but – heh – " He turned into a tortoise out of embarrassment.

"You should take that as a complement", Cyborg said, with a cheeky grin. "He only does that around girls he likes"

"I'm sorry for waking you all up", Sakura said. "I didn't realise I was early"

"Well, you're already here", Robin said. "So I guess you may as well have breakfast with us"

"Awesome!" she replied.

"Six rounds of tofu eggs and bacon, coming up!" Beast Boy announced.

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you?" Cyborg moaned. "No one other than you likes that stuff"

"I can't say I've ever tried it before", Sakura said. "But it sounds yummy"

Beast Boy looked smugly in Cyborg's direction while he stared at her in shock.

While Beast Boy prepared the meal, the others sat at the table.

"I can't believe it", Cyborg said. "That's the first time ever someone's been interested in Beast Boy's vegetarian cooking"

"What can I say, I'm a vegetarian myself", Sakura replied. "Though I can't say I'm much of a cook. My diet basically consists of rice, more rice, a few vegetables here and then, and more rice"

"Well", Beast Boy said, "maybe when you join the team I can show you some vegetarian recipes"

"IF she joins the team", Raven said. "There's no guarantee she's going to be a part of our group"

Beast Boy served up six plates of tofu eggs and bacon, and the Titans tucked in. The other four found Beast Boy's cooking to be bland and flavourless, but Sakura wolfed hers down with relish.

"Wow, Beast Boy, that was amazing!" She looked at Cyborg's place, and noticed he had only eaten half of his. "Say, are you gonna eat that?"

"Help yourself" She shovelled the remainder of Cyborg's breakfast onto her plate, and soon enough she had eaten that too.

"Well, now that we've all had breakfast", Robin said. "Let's head over to the training room"

The Titans and Sakura began walking down the corridor.

"So what kind of superpowers do you have, anyway?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't have any at all"

"What? No powers at all?"

"Nope. I'm just like any other person really. Everyone has something they're passionate about, and my passion has always been martial arts. I've been training since I was an infant, and now it's paying off"

"But surely", Starfire interjected, "someone without superpowers cannot be a 'superhero'?"

"Starfire, I don't have superpowers either", Robin said with a deadpan expression on his face.

Starfire blushed. "Ah… yes…"

Soon enough, they had reached the training room.

"Come on then, missy", Cyborg said. "Let's see you how you do with the weights"

"Oh, I'm no good with that sort of thing", she said. "Upper body strength has never been my forte"

"But if that's the case", Beast Boy asked, "how is it that you've won so many tournaments?"

"I get asked that question a lot" Sakura smiled, and somersaulted onto one of the mats. "See, at the end of the day, how good you are at martial arts like judo and aikido has little to do with how much upper body strength you have. It does require strength, but not the sort that muscles that give you. It's all about using your opponent's momentum against them"

"You're right there", Robin said.

"Now come on! Give me your best shot!"

The Titans looked at each other in puzzlement. "What?" Raven asked.

"Try and knock me down – I bet none of you will be able to"

"You're starting to get on my nerves with your cocky attitude", Raven said. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos" Several tornados of black magic headed towards Sakura from all directions – with a sideways somersault and a backflip, Sakura avoided all of them effortlessly. Shortly afterwards, Cyborg levelled a heavy punch at her from behind. Without even flinching she caught his wrist and flung him to the ground. Robin jumped forwards and aimed several attacks at her, all of which she blocked, a fierce look of concentration on her face. Eventually, once Robin had worn himself down, she levelled a palm strike at his face and knocked him over. Suddenly, she sensed something to her left – she reached a hand out and grabbed Beast Boy, now in tiger form, and flung him outwards, hitting Starfire and knocking her over. She gasped, and ran over to them.

"Sorry Starfire, I didn't mean to hurt you"

Starfire got up, still somewhat dizzy from the impact. "It is fine. Your skill is quite commendable"

"Yeah. It's like you knew all of our moves – as if you could read our minds" Robin said.

"Well, it's mostly skill, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't about 10% luck as well"

"Well, you've clearly got a lot of talent on your hands", Robin said.

"Does that mean I'm on the team?" Sakura beamed.

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down. It's not that simple. A brief show of anticipation isn't enough to prove that you're capable of defending the city – we need to know that you're going to be a suitable fighter on a consistent basis"

Sakura had an annoyed expression on her face, but she stopped herself before she could say anything, and instead replied calmly, "Of course. You're right."

"Let's resume with training and see how it g-" Before Robin could finish his statement, the sirens sounded throughout the tower.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked, as the Titans headed for the living room.

"There's trouble in the city", Cyborg said. "We need to go and check it out"

Sakura followed the Titans into the living room.

"Reports are coming in that dozens of automated robots are terrorising the city", Robin said. "Let's move out!" The Titans headed out of the living room and towards the exit. Beast Boy, however, turned back and looked at Sakura, who was waiting by the kitchen area. "Hey, come with us! Your help could come in handy!" Sakura smiled, and followed him out of the Tower.

The six of them headed for the city centre. Sakura flew on Beast Boy-in-pterodactyl-form's back, with Starfire and Raven following close behind, while Cyborg and Robin drove in via car and motorcycle respectively. Within a few minutes, they had come face-to-face with the robot army. The civilians had fled the area, and the robots were causing heavy property damage.

"Teen Titans, go!" Robin shouted.

Immediately, they sprang into action. Robin took out two straight away with a skilled bird-a-range shot, while Beast Boy took out three with a charging rhinoceros attack. As starbolts and sonic cannon strikes and black magic and gadgets and wild animals flung every which way, Sakura charged towards one of the robots, and aimed a punch at it, knocking it over. However, as she was levelling herself for another punch, a second robot held tight onto her. She struggled against the robot's grasp, but was unable to escape until Starfire aimed a starbolt and obliterated it.

"Are you alright?" Starfire called.

"Yeah, fine, whatever", Sakura said, and aimed a well-placed kick at another robot, causing it to explode. The Titans made quick work of most of the remaining robots over the course of the next few minutes.

"Well, I think that's all of 'em", Cyborg said.

"No, there's one left!" Raven said, pointing at one last robot that had pinned Sakura to the floor and was aiming a powerful laser at her. Just as the laser had become fully charged, Raven used telekinesis to raise it high into the air, and then plummet back to earth, destroying it totally. The five Titans looked down at her.

"I messed up, didn't I?" she said sadly.

Back at Titans Tower, the Titans were discussing the situation with Sakura.

"You were very reckless back there", Raven said. "Too impetuous. Too senseless. You didn't have a proper strategy, and so you put yourself in danger"

"And furthermore", Robin added, "you weren't acting as part of a team – you attacked solely based on your own impulses, and that won't get you anywhere"

Sakura bowed her head in shame. "You're right. I was stupid. I have no excuse"

"However…" Robin began.

Sakura looked up hopefully. "Yes?"

"Although your techniques are very rough around the edges, you did show admirable determination and strength in the midst of that battle, and managed to dispatch quite a few of those robots because of it"

"So does that mean…"

"You shouldn't have dived into the deep end so early", Cyborg said, "but that doesn't mean we're giving up on you. Everyone has flaws, and as long as you're willing to acknowledge that you exist, you can work on them with training and experience"

Sakura was close to tears. "Does that mean I'm going to be a Teen Titan?"

"Not necessarily", Robin said. "It just means that we haven't disregarded the possibility entirely. We'd like you to train with us more – a lot more – before you take part in a real fight again."

"What can I say?" Sakura replied. "I guess the excitement got the better of me – I was very foolish"

"So we'll see you back here same time tomorrow, and try not to be so early this time", Robin said.

"Thank you so much. Goodbye" Sakura left the tower.

"I still think that girl is bad news", Raven said.

"I am inclined to agree with Raven here", Starfire said. "She is… rather unfettered in her pursuit of what suits her. It is what you on Earth would call… selfish."

"Star, you're being ridiculous!" Beast Boy cried. "She's awesome! She just had a bad day, that's all. I'm sure soon enough she'll let us know what she's really made of!"

"Whatever", Raven said. "I'll be in my room – I have more important things to worry about than arrogant children who think they can waltz into our team"


	3. Chapter 3

At three o' clock the following morning, Starfire entered the living room. She was having trouble sleeping, and had decided to fetch herself a cold glass of Zorka berry juice in the hopes that it might soothe her. After opening the fridge and placing the pitcher of juice on the counter, she heard a strange cry behind her.

"Eek!" Starbolts at the ready, she turned around. It was Silkie, who had been awoken from his slumber by Starfire's entry.

"Oh, it is just you, my little bongorf", Starfire said, going over and giving Silkie a hug. "I am deeply sorry for disturbing your period of rest. I shall leave now, and then you may resume your slumber"

However, as she went to pour herself a glass of the juice, she could hear footsteps coming from down the corridor, which soon stopped. Assuming that it was one of the other Titans, she shrugged, and continued to pour the juice. When she had returned the pitcher to the fridge, the footsteps returned, and the door into the living room opened. Starfire turned to see who it was, and gasped with shock, dropping her glass of juice in the process. It was not one of the Titans at all – it was an intruder.

She could gauge nothing of this person's appearance, other than that they were tall and thin, because they were covered entirely in thick black bandages. Even their eyes were obscured.

"Who are – " Starfire was interrupted with a swift punch to the face that sent her flying across the room. The tall figure ran towards her again, unleashing a relentless onslaught of punches and kicks onto Starfire's body. By this point, Starfire was very bruised and battered, struggling even to get up from the floor.

Suddenly, the figure grabbed one of the shards of broken glass lying next to Starfire, and used it to carve a deep wound into Starfire's arm. Starfire screamed in anguish, which alerted the other Titans' to the figure's presence.

"Damn!" the figure said in a gruff voice, while taking a sample of Starfire's spilt blood with a syringe. Dragging Starfire by her hair, the figure continued, "Still, I'm sure your friends will miss you when you're gone"

However, before they could escape with Starfire, Beast Boy, in the form of a rhinoceros, barged directly into them, causing the figure to drop Starfire and fly into the wall.

"Whoever you are", Robin said, "we're NOT letting you take Starfire!"

The figure looked at the four of them, who were all poised and ready for combat. "Well, it seems I'm outnumbered", they said. "No matter. At least I managed to get one of the things I wanted", they continued, holding out the blood-filled syringe . Before the Titans could react, they had jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

"Who WAS that guy?" Beast Boy said.

"We'll worry about that later", Robin said. "Starfire's badly hurt, and she needs medical assistance now!"

In the recovery room, while Raven performed healing and pain absorption spells upon Starfire's heavily wounded body, the Titans discussed the nature of the incident.

"Starfire, what happened?" Cyborg asked.

"I am uncertain", Starfire replied, wincing. "I had entered the kitchen to obtain some Zorka berry juice, when suddenly this strange figure entered the room and began to attack me"

"But how could they have gotten in?" Cyborg said. "The glass has been reinforced to several times the strength of steel – there's no way they could've broken through it without any weaponry"

"I do not think they did break in", Starfire said. "I could hear footsteps down the corridor before they entered, so unless any of you were awake at the time, it seems that this intruder found some other means of gaining entry"

Cyborg's eye bulged. "He couldn't – " He rushed off. Shortly afterwards, he returned, livid.

"He walked straight through the front door!"  
"What?!" everyone else cried in shock.

"He knew the entry code to get into the tower, so all he had to do was punch it in! AND he disabled all of the security measures! How the hell did he get access to the tower's codes?!" Cyborg stomped off in order to alter the tower's vital codes.

By this point, Raven had finished performing her spells, and went to join Beast Boy and Robin.

"It's clear that the intruder wanted to capture Starfire specifically. And when they failed to do that, they still insist that they got what they wanted by stealing some of her blood. What could they want that for?"

"Er… maybe they want to make a mutant army of Starfire clones in order to take over the city?" Beast Boy suggested. Robin and Raven glared at him disapprovingly.

"Well, they have that super strength business and those starbolt thingies, right? Who's to say that's NOT what they want it for?"

"I think we'd better go and investigate the scene of the crime a bit more", Robin suggested. "Perhaps they left some sort of clue behind without even realising it"

"Yes, that is a good idea", Starfire said, rising out of bed.

"You should rest, Starfire", Raven said. "I was able to minimise the damage, but you'll still need a while to heal fully"

"Oh, OK" Starfire reluctantly returned to the bed.

Robin, Raven and Beast Boy headed off down the corridor, but before they could even enter the living room, a discovery was made.

"Look!" Beast Boy said, pointing into the corner. Sure enough, there was a very crumpled piece of paper lying next to the wall. Robin picked it up and uncrumpled it. Immediately, he bit his lower lip.

"Well? What does it say?" Beast Boy enquired.

Robin read out the note:

"We watch your bodies every night.

We watch your team's pathetic plight.

We have found you all at least, my dears,

So you have no need to quell your fears.

This attack, you see, is just the start –

Soon enough we shall tear you apart.

We will engulf you all in torturous flames –

No more failed plots and pointless games."

"Great", Raven said. "So not only is someone trying to kill us, they also write terrible poetry"

Robin tightened his fist. "We WILL find them", Robin said. "And when we do, I'll make them PAY for what they did to Starfire"


End file.
